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Let women get their kicks
It’s not every day that a steamy, blonde-haired co-ed straps on a helmet and shoulder pads and huddles up with the guys.
“I said, 'Look at that dude's ponytail,’ ” Reed said. “They flashed on her, and I said, 'That's a chick.' ”
And everybody wondered: Could the chick kick?
Not successfully, as it turned out. A UCLA defender blocked Hnida’s low attempt. Anyone who snickered obviously hasn’t been watching the Steelers’ kickers (Reed excluded) the past few years.
Surely, you’ve seen the replay. Within 48 hours of the kick, Hnida appeared on CNN, ESPN, The CBS Early Show and Good Morning America. It hardly mattered that she’d failed. She was the first woman to play in a Division I-A college game.
A New Mexico spokesman told me that Hnida had kicked out of a large divot. I asked her about it.
“Let’s just say the ground was a little uneven,” she said. “I should have adjusted.”
Hnida contended that her coach, Rocky Long, had not used her as a publicity stunt. She made 83 of 87 extra-point attempts in high school, plus a 35-yard field goal. She claims her range is 45 yards.
New Mexico’s other kicker, Kenny Byrd, missed a 34-yarder Wednesday.
“If you met my coach, he’s not a gimmick sort-of man,” Hnida said. “I never want to be a sideshow.”
Hnida’s attempt sparked a furious debate on whether women should be allowed to play college football. Male and female journalists alike — most of them failing to acknowledge that kickers aren’t really football players — railed against the idea, citing the physical risk. Even a kicker could find himself — er, herself — butting heads with a 300-pound oaf.
What if the 5-foot-9, 145-pound Hnida had to make a tackle?
“That would be a tough one to watch,” Reed said. “But if she's out there in pads and that's what she wants to do, then she's live.”
And she has every right to kick. Hnida doesn’t do kickoffs because of the possibility of having to make a tackle, but her goal is to be New Mexico’s place-kicker next season. Another person could handle kickoffs.
Jim Pollihan, who played soccer for the U.S. National team and now runs the Harrisburg Heat of the Major Indoor Soccer League, believes a woman will kick in the NFL.
“Just watching the U.S. women play soccer and seeing how they can strike a ball with accuracy and strength,” Pollihan said, “I think it’s just a matter of time.”
How does that hit you?
I love the idea. It’d be great to see a woman infiltrate the buttoned-down world of pro football, where players are penalized for wearing their socks too high and where it’s actually going to take affirmative action to increase the number of black coaches. Imagine a woman trotting out to attempt a game-winning field goal in the Super Bowl, her blonde pony tail bouncing out of her helmet.
It beats Scott Norwood any day.
And, really, would it be so bizarre? Think about some of the weirdo kickers we’ve seen. Think about the Gramatica brothers.
Think about Garo Yepremian. No girl could have thrown a ball more girly like than Yepremian on his historic, Super Bowl VII blunder. Guys like him allowed us to watch Gus The Field Goal-Kicking Mule and even Tony Danza with a sense of realism.
Hopefully, you have not seen — or even heard of — Danza’s 1998 film, “The Garbage-Picking, Field Goal-Kicking Philadelphia Phenomenon.”
Jim Power works for the National Kicking Service, an organization that runs kicking camps, one of which Reed attended. He can foresee the day when a woman kicks for a college team.
“Michigan went through four kickers who couldn’t make short field goals,” Power said. “Teams would be willing to sacrifice distance for accuracy.”
Power, who tried out for several NFL teams and kicked in the Arena League, worked with noted soccer player Michelle Akers. He said her range was just 42-45 yards but added, “She was as accurate as any pro ever. She was probably the best girl kicker I’ll ever see.”
Will a woman kick in the NFL?
“Never,” Power said. “Not unless they’re on steroids. They can’t kick far enough.”
Ray Pelfrey, a former NFL punter, agrees. He runs kicking camps for Professional Kicking Services and worked with Hnida.
“In a two-day camp, we do a lot of kicking, and (girls’) legs go to spaghetti pretty quick,” he said.
Hnida concedes that strength is an issue, but she believes a woman will come along who’s strong enough for the NFL. And it’s not like women don’t risk their health in other sports. You’ve got mountain bikers and boxers and even full-contact football players. More than 2,000 girls compete in boys high school wrestling.
Each year brings stories of women kicking at various levels of college football, although Pelfrey and Power only see one or two girls per year at their camps. Stephanie Weimer of McKeesport tried out for Penn State’s football team this year. Soccer star Mia Hamm showed up impromptu at a Kansas City Chiefs practice and blasted 45-yard field goals with both feet (let’s see Todd Peterson do that).
Look, coaches are coaches. They live to win, and if they hear about somebody whose kicking can help them win — whether it be a mule, a woman or Tony Danza — they will listen.
